The Buckeyes return home to face the Boilermakers before ending the season against two ranked sides.
Thursday was a forgettable trip for Ohio State women’s basketball. After entering the fourth quarter down 18 points to the Indiana Hoosiers, the Buckeyes made a rout look more respectable, falling 71-61 in Bloomington, Indiana. Now, the Scarlet and Gray return home to face the other Indiana-based Big Ten side in the Purdue Boilermakers.
Ohio State’s loss not only keeps on the questions focused on the team’s defense, but it pushes the Buckeyes closer to a potential road trip for the NCAA Tournament’s first and second rounds.
How does the play into Sunday’s game? It’s complicated.
Preview
Purdue enters Sunday’s game in Columbus with a 9-17 record, going 2-13 in Big Ten play. That puts the Boilermakers in 16th place in the conference and potentially eliminating the side from playing at the Big Ten tournament in their home state.
So, it’s a game that Ohio State is expected to win, even more so considering the notion that big teams respond after big losses.
There in lies the problem for the Buckeyes. If Ohio State wins with the same play they’ve had in the last five games, it doesn’t set the team up for success against ranked Michigan State and Maryland in the final week of the season.
Against the UCLA Bruins and USC Trojans, the Buckeyes forced 23 turnovers in each game but still lost by double-digits with the offense failing to convert those turnovers regularly. Against the Minnesota Golden Gophers and Iowa Hawkeyes, blown double-digit leads in the final minutes of both fourth quarters exposed the Ohio State defense struggling in the half court.
Thursday’s loss to Indiana was a combination of both of those issues, and it showed a Buckeye side failing to adjust to a team that appeared to want the win more than most of Ohio State’s players.
The bright spots offensively are freshman point guard Jaloni Cambridge and junior forward Cotie McMahon. In four of the last five games, the duo outscored the other three starters combined, only against the Trojans did any other starter not named McMahon or Cambridge outscore one of the two.
Ohio State’s offense is resting heavily on their shoulders, with guard/forward Taylor Thierry taking six shots or less in each of the last five games. For guard Chance Gray and forward Ajae Petty, the two lack confidence, resulting in costly turnovers and missed chances. Gray’s shooting efficiency is at 27.7 percent in the previous five, going 2-of-23 in from deep in that period.
Head coach Kevin McGuff’s side has featured big bench performances with guard Ava Watson and center Elsa Lemmilä excelling against the Minnesota Golden Gophers and a career high 16 points for guard Kennedy Cambridge against Iowa, but Indiana showed that when those surprise performances aren’t there, the team stumbles.
Graduate seniors Eboni Walker and Madison Greene played strong minutes against the Hoosiers, and they were the only two players on the nine-player Ohio State roster who had a positive plus/minus. McGuff experimented putting them on the court with McMahon, Lemmilä and either Kennedy Cambridge or Taylor Thierry.
Now, there’s no reason Jaloni Cambridge shouldn’t start, and one game doesn’t mean that Walker and Greene should be in the starting lineup, but the two veterans of the McGuff system showed in a tough Assembly Hall environment that they’re ready for more responsibility in games.
That group erased a nine-point deficit at the start of the second quarter, a rare moment where the Buckeyes offense and defense looked up to their potential.
Ohio State can beat Purdue with the usual starting lineup, but will that cause a false sense that all of their problems are fixed? Maybe. The inverse is that this game could be the catalyst for rebuilt confidence.
At the end of November, Petty showed her double-double ability crashing the boards and making the most of her offensive opportunities. Gray tied a single-game three-point record for the Buckeyes with nine in a game in the second game of the season.
Coach McGuff consistently shared how the Buckeyes brought the two of them in from the transfer portal to fix three-point shooting and rebounding. Could a game against a struggling Purdue open those abilities back up with two ranked games following it to close out the season?
Purdue enters Sunday with three losses in their last five, beating other teams near the bottom of the standings against the Wisconsin Badgers and Northwestern Wildcats. The wins can be discounted, but they showed that head coach Katie Gearlds is getting something out of a team that lost nine straight games to start the Big Ten season.
Leading the Boilermakers is graduate senior guard Destini Lombard. Purdue’s leading scorer started her NCAA career at LSU before playing three years at Stephen F. Austin. Lombard averages 10.3 points per game and is the only Boilermaker averaging at least double-digit points per contest.
Lombard is also key on defense. The former WAC Defensive Player of the Year averages two steals per game in her final NCAA season and along with sophomore guard Rashunda Jones, the two backcourt players can cause problems for the Buckeyes if ball handling and focus isn’t there on Sunday afternoon.
Inside is freshman forward Lana McCarthy. The 6-foot-4 first year Boilermaker starts for Purdue regularly, but Gearlds will take out the freshman if things aren’t going her way early in games. McCarthy has two double-doubles this season, but both came in the first month of the season. Speed and quick passing of Ohio State will make things difficult for McCarthy.
Ohio State has one loss to Purdue in the last five games. That defeat came at home, three days after the last time the Buckeyes lost in Assembly Hall in January of 2023.
Projected Starters
Ohio State
G- Jaloni Cambridge
G- Chance Gray
G- Taylor Thierry
F- Cotie McMahon
F- Ajae Petty
Lineup Notes
- McMahon and Cambridge average a combined 36 points per game over the last five games, while the other three starters average a combined 18.6 points per game in the same five games.
- Taylor Thierry leads the Big Ten with 2.5 steals per game.
- Jaloni Cambridge is ninth in the Big Ten in defensive rating at 79.6 points allowed per 100 possessions.
Purdue
G- Rashunda Jones
G- Destini Lombard
G- Ella Collier
F- Reagan Bass
F- Lana McCarthy
Lineup Notes
- Coach Gearlds used seven different starting rosters this season.
- Guard Ella Collier was questionable against against Minnesota earlier this week with a sore back.
- Purdue struggled against the interior game of Minnesota on Wednesday, allowing 49 points from Sophie Hart and Grace Grocholski.
Prediction
Purdue is going to bring all they have against Ohio State, with players in recent weeks playing through injuries for coach Gearlds to try and get the Boilermakers into the Big Ten Tournament.
Ohio State will come out strong after their disappointment in Bloomington and force turnovers on the backcourt pairing of Lombard and Jones. The Buckeyes will pull away and Gray will have a better shooting performance to propel Ohio State over Purdue.
How to Watch
Date: Sunday, Feb. 23, 2025
Time: 12:00 p.m. ET
Where: Schottenstein Center, Columbus, Ohio
Television: Big Ten Network
Stream: FOX Sports Go
LGHL Score Prediction: 86-61, Ohio State Buckeyes
Senior Day
The Buckeyes honor four upperclassmen on Sunday for Senior Day. Thierry, Walker, Petty and Greene will each be honored prior to the game. It’s an especially emotional moment for fans and Greene, who’s ending six years in the program this season. The four and three years of Thierry and Walker, respectively, will also elicit a big round of applause.
Get to the Schottenstein Center early to join the crowd in honoring the trio of Ohio State seniors.